At last year's annual CFDA Fashion Awards, a.k.a. the Oscars of this industry, only four women received awards. That group included Erin Beatty (one half of the Suno duo), Vera Wang, Pamela Love, and costume designer Colleen Atwood. The rest of the night's prize winners, (11 in total), were all men. Those aren't the most promising odds for the ladies of fashion. And last year's results were representative of an ongoing pattern—the greatest success stories in New York fashion right now are the men, like Alexander Wang, Proenza Schouler's Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Jason Wu, Joseph Altuzarra, and Prabal Gurung.

The imbalance hasn't gone unnoticed. In 2012, Style.com ran a story asking: Where are the women? There is certainly no shortage of talented female designers out there right now. The Row's Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Cushnie et Ochs' Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs, Tabitha Simmons, and Rodarte's Kate and Laura Mulleavy have all worked their way to the top of the pack in recent years. And of course, some of the global fashion industry's biggest power players are women, including Diane von Furstenberg, Carolina Herrera, Phoebe Philo, Stella McCartney, and Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen. But who is next in line?

We might just have our answer with the CFDA's new crop of Incubator designers. The Incubator, for those out of the loop, fosters and supports New York's emerging design talents. In the past, that has included the likes of Prabal Gurung, Bibhu Mohapatra, Timo Weiland, Jonathan Simkhai, and Daniel Vosovic. This time around, however, the 10 labels (A Peace Treaty; Dezso by Sara Beltran; Isa Tapia; Kaelen; Kara; Katie Ermilio; Lucio Castro; Nomia; Nonoo; Orley) are mostly helmed by women.

"What's exciting about the women in the Incubator class is that they're not just women in fashion, they are women in business," the design team (Dana Arbib, Farah Malk, and Jesse Meighan) of A Peace Treaty, told ELLE.com. "The future is bright – and for women in New York, the glass ceiling has virtually shattered."

Perhaps the wearability and practicality of most female designers' work has something to do with it. Fashion can't exist without the dreamers and the fantasy, but at the end of the day, it's function that sells. And these Incubator designers have real women and their wants in mind.

"I think many women want to wear the clothes, live the life of fashion dreams, be the muse, or maybe be mothers. They want to be the fantasy, not create it," explained Isa Tapia. Jewelry designer Sara Beltrán, of Dezso by Sara Beltrán, said, "I think that my jewelry is more practical and wearable than my male counterparts', who make larger and fragile pieces with more moving parts. She added, "It's very easy to wear one of my commercial pieces on a daily basis compared to a larger and more fragile piece that my male counterpart may design."

And for her part, Misha Nonoo of Nonoo, has been steadily gaining steam since launching her line in 2011, with her beautifully tailored, smart pieces. "Having traveled around the world, I understand womens' universal desire to feel beautiful and confident," Nonoo, a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Finalist, told us. "I also understand that every woman may experience insecurities with her figure from time to time and I design each collection with this in mind, developing garments that flatter a diverse demographic of body types."

Like her counterparts, Katie Ermilio feels being a female designer is only helping her. "I see all of the positive aspects of being a female designer in the industry, and being a young woman myself is certainly an asset in my approach to designing for women," she said.

Though there isn't any specific evidence to explain why male designers are especially excelling these days, there is agreement within in the group on one thing: talent reigns supreme "I think that irrespective of sex, the industry calls for dedication, ambition, and great talent in order to be successful. Your commitment to your craft is the most important factor," said Nonoo.

We look forward to seeing a CFDA Fashion Awards ballot in upcoming years that recognizes this groups' impressive offerings. In the meantime, with New York Fashion Week underway, these are women you'll want to be sure and watch.